Creationists Demand Airtime On 'Cosmos' For The Sake Of Balance

I am so very glad i harbour my own views of god,
And am sure many scientists also have their own views of god.

The show is really amazing, for all those who watch it. If they're cherry picking little arguments about it, ill make note that religion has and does
suppress archaeological finds that do not line up with their beliefs, and did stifle people with different views. And there is proof of these biblical
cities as well. Or what are believed to be anyway. So the bibles accounts may be correct in some form or another, Don't you want to use -science- to
find out?

The difference i see is. Creationism says it has the answer. seems to be the the lazy way out to me, "God created it" is not a good enough answer to
appease my curiousity, and that its enough to appease anyones curiosity is amazing. Science wants to find, test, and verify the answer. Just seems
like two different schools of thought to me, one is fact, belief in it or not it's there. It's all around us. We cannot survive now without some of
the most fundamental scientific principles, such as electricity. Even science deniers make use of that, and it seems a bit hypocritical.

Though the new pope is starting to see things differently i think, he is a smart man

Are we alone in the universe? The ultimate question of life beyond Earth and the solar system takes center stage in a science conference led by the
Vatican Observatory and a University of Arizona this week.

Nearly 200 scientists are attending the conference, called "The Search for Life Beyond the Solar System: Exoplanets, Biosignature & Instruments,"
which runs from March 16 through 21 in Tucson, Ariz. The Vatican Observatory is co-hosting the conference with the University of Arizona's Steward
Observatory.

"Finding life beyond Earth is one of the great challenges of modern science and we are excited to have the world leaders in this field together in
Tucson," said event co-chair Daniel Apai, assistant professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the UA Steward Observatory, in a statement. "But
reaching such an ambitious goal takes planning and time. The goal of this meeting is to discuss how we can find life among the stars within the next
two decades."

I am not catholic but this seems like a leap forward to me. I think if we discover alien life the whole creationist theory falls right down the
tubes. As i don't think it has room for alien life, correct?

I actually beleive that it would make a nice "balance" of added to the show. Healthy debate will either strengthen or weaken one's argument, and
this is absolutely why religion channels / churches don't allow for question asking or debate.

I am not religious; however, I do believe in the Ancient Alien theory. Evolution alone does not explain humanity.

Unless the TV evangelists want to make this tit for tat and host scientists while allowing them to freely point out stupidity back at them on their
own "shows", then they can just blow it out their arse for the time being. How does that tech saying go, "Just because you can weld a pipe joint
does not mean you can solder a circuit board." In other words, religion is not science.

There is one other point here, that I don't think that those critics of the show Cosmos are considering, and that is if the creators of Cosmos gives
time to one group, then it opens the door legally for other groups to come in and demand equal representation on the show. So that means that the
Hindu's could very well demand that their point of view be represented, and the Pagans, and the Druids, and the Mayans, and the Hopi's and the
Aztecs, and any number of groups out there, who want to see that their point of view is displayed, would have all rights to do demand such, and if the
creators of Cosmos gives in to the Christians, then they will have to also allow for equal time to all of the others who want to come in and state
their point of view. Do you really think that the Christians are going to be so willing as to say share the screen with opposing or differing points
of view on the creation of the universe?

It's interesting you say that, we do live in a time which is very divisive. Racially and religiously divisive, statements from shows like the Cosmos
does NOT help with that - it's almost like there is an agenda other than scientific education. Science isn't reserved for Atheists, Science is
objective and reserved for EVERYONE and it can be INTERPRETED in more than just black and white - that is why were have 'theories.' In fact, a
Catholic priest proposed the concept of the big bang theory.

What everyone in both arguments needs to do is think with common sense. Nothing can evolve without being created and nothing can be created without
evolving. Both have to occur in order for either to exist.

I'm pretty sure they do have movies . . . Noah is coming out soon. Then there is that whole Passion of the Christ, Ten Commandments, etc.

Christians, on average, just can't deal with criticism or a questioning mind.

hate to say it but both Noah and the Passion of the Christ, really can't be considered religious since they seem to go way off from the bible,
sorry. in fact many people consider those movies to actually be anti religious because of that. ten commandments wasn't too bad tho but what
do you expect it was made in a time where religion was more respected in Hollywood.

You talk down on Noah and Passion of the Christ, but then give the Ten Commandments a pass? The same movie that casted a tall, blond, Aryan man as a
jew? Yea, following the source material indeed *rolls eyes*

It's interesting you say that, we do live in a time which is very divisive. Racially and religiously divisive, statements from shows like the Cosmos
does NOT help with that - it's almost like there is an agenda other than scientific education. Science isn't reserved for Atheists, Science is
objective and reserved for EVERYONE and it can be INTERPRETED in more than just black and white - that is why were have 'theories.' In fact, a
Catholic priest proposed the concept of the big bang theory.

No one said it was reserved for atheists. Please produce a post or quote from someone that does. Until then, don't make those claims. That still
doesn't change the fact that Creation Science, ISN'T science. If these guys wanted to use REAL science, they can start with their source material
using circular reasoning to prove itself or produce more evidence than just their book to support their claims. Until then, all creation science is,
is just religion under a different name.

LiberLegit
Oh look, another anti-religion echo-chamber thread for militant atheists to circle-jerk in. If any of you actually watched the show instead of just
spewing Degrasse Tyson memes on your favorite subreddit you would see that the show started out not about science, but by trashing religion in
particular the Catholic church. Nobody asked for that, the show Cosomos brought in religion ITSELF - and the funny part is they weren't even
factually correct!

I don't have a problem with hard science, I don't have a problem with religion, I have a problem with propaganda and falsification. The people with
"closed minds" are those who can't even accept the fact that others think differently than them, aka most of the people in this thread -
surrounding themselves with some false air of superiority because they don't mind insulting those who believe in a deity.

The "equal time" demand is silly; but what little I've caught of this new series (hey, it's programmed against "True Detective" and "The
Walking Dead"), it did strike me that they were being deliberately provocative, with some spurious - that is, unnecessary - anti-religion detours.

I'm an agnostic, at best, but in the past, I have, as a matter of curiosity, looked into the role of both Islam and the Catholic church in
encouraging/supporting science and public education in the middle ages. Suffice it to say, the popular belief that the Catholic church spent the
Middle Ages trying to squash scientific thought and progress is about 180 degrees from the truth of the matter, and much of what everyone knows to be
true is wrong.

And it seems that Cosmos, for reasons known only to them, chose a relatively unknown character in Bruno, and proceeded to ignore the actual evidence
of his story, to relate their own version to strike against religion. Deliberately distorting (i.e. "lying") a historical event, to further a theme
you're pushing, doesn't sound very "science-y" to me ...

I'm no apologist for religion, though I prefer not to insult people who have religious beliefs - which seems to be "sport" for certain people.
And there's no doubt that many sins can be laid at the feet of certain religious organizations - which doesn't absolve the many non-religious
political organizations from their own sins throughout history.

Anyway, so far, I've been not terribly impressed with the series - Planet Earth, the original Cosmos, Through The Wormhole - all seem better, more
ground-breaking. And as an aside, can't say I find NDT a particularly compelling presenter - not that he's a poor presenter, just, well, expected
more - bring on Sir David Attenborough.

How so? Particularly with Neil deGrasse Tyson playing such a prominent role in it.

The idea of travelling to the beginning of the universe in an imaginary spaceship (which only ever got in the way of the special effects), drawing on
mathematical (abstract) conclusions rather than natural phenomena, postulating ideas of all-encompassing forces, teleological principles,
multi-verses, dimensions and other theories, the underhanded remarks against religion, and the abundant use of overly romantic imagery to sell an
idea.

Now, I don't watch television these days—I suppose maybe all shows might be like this—but I watched it because I wanted to see the science, not
the ideology.

Maybe it's just me, but I could never figure out why God and science have to be mutually exclusive. I would think that it would be easiest to define
the underlying physics of the universe and let it play out largely like starting a machine or a computer program.

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